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The oldest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, has suspended withdrawals, claiming that a Bitcoin software bug has made it possible to falsify transactions. Bitcoin coders say the issue has been common knowledge since 2011 and Mt. Gox's own software is at fault. Bitcoin prices fell from around $800 to $550, but as we went to press had rallied to $700.

Run for your retina

The three blind mice should have kept on running. For the first time exercise has been shown to protect the retina of mice with a condition that mimics macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of blindness in older people (The Journal of Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2062-13.2014).

Prints in the sand

Footprints left by five prehistoric humans between 850,000 and 950,000 years ago have been discovered on a beach in Norfolk, UK – the oldest prints like this found outside Africa. The climate 850,000 years ago was colder than it is now, so the individuals were at the northernmost limit of hominin settlement (PLoS One, doi.org/rd2).

What's the beef?

Almost 4 million kilograms of beef products were recalled by a California slaughtering plant after federal inspectors said the plant "processed diseased and unsound animals" and that "products are ... unsound, unwholesome or otherwise are unfit for human food".

Death of a giraffe

Marius, an 18-month-old male giraffe from Copenhagen Zoo, was put down on Sunday, to the dismay of animal rights organisations. The Danish zoo said that it was following rules of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria to prevent inbreeding: Marius simply had the wrong genes. He was dissected in public then fed to the lions.

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